


Just Calling to Say I'm Marrying Someone Else

by AlwaysMyChoices



Series: I'm Just Calling to... [1]
Category: Open Heart (Visual Novels)
Genre: Break Up, Breakup, Cold Feet, Distance, F/M, Headcanon, Wedding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-19
Updated: 2020-11-19
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:55:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,544
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27635060
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlwaysMyChoices/pseuds/AlwaysMyChoices
Summary: (Headcanon) Charlie and Ethan didn't mean to fall apart, but after 2 years without commitment and an ongoing debate about what they wanted their life to look like, Charlie ended up on the other side of the country, calling Ethan every night because she missed him. But when Charlie found someone else, those calls stopped... until now.
Relationships: Ethan Ramsey/Main Character (Open Heart)
Series: I'm Just Calling to... [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2057130
Kudos: 9





	Just Calling to Say I'm Marrying Someone Else

  * Charlie’s decision to leave Boston was rushed, emotional, and second guessed at every turn.
  * By that point, she and Ethan certainly weren’t together. They weren’t even really talking.
  * It had been months of disagreements – some passive but all aggressive.
  * Charlie spent 2 years waiting for Ethan to commit, and every day he didn’t pushed her farther away.
  * It was romantic, at first. He didn’t do commitment, but for Charlie, he was willing to try. Growth was slow, and she modified her expectations to allow him the time he needed. She was so in love that she was willing to ignore all those little moments when he should have claimed her and didn’t.
  * The beginning of the end came in December. Charlie was in Ethan’s apartment, searching for an apartment of her own on her phone. A year after her residency ended, she realized it was time to let go of her many roommates and get a place on her own. After weeks of deliberation, Charlie floated the idea of moving in with Ethan. It had been two years, after all.
  * But Ethan said they shouldn’t fix what wasn’t broken. If they were happy, why push it by moving in together?
  * The issue was that Charlie _wasn’t_ happy. A few weeks later, when she flew home for the holidays, everyone asked if she’d ever made it official with that handsome doctor they heard she was seeing. After 2 years, she had to shake her head.
  * When she got home, Ethan saw something was different, but months later, he realized he’d been wrong in his assessment. She wasn’t suddenly angry. She was just finally telling him.
  * All spring, she and Ethan fought. They constantly pushed the boundaries, breaking up any semblance of domestic happiness they’d established together. If Charlie wasn’t his girlfriend, why shouldn’t she just go date other people? Ethan did the same.
  * They hated it, of course. They were miserable, and they couldn’t stand inflicting pain on the other person. But they were so stubborn that they couldn’t stop themselves. Neither of them could just admit defeat and ask for forgiveness.
  * The final straw was Charlie accepting a job in California and slapping her resignation letter on his desk.
  * The day she moved, she actually thought he might run to the airport and stop her.
  * He didn’t.
  * In California, the anger cooled, but it was too late.
  * One night, weeks after she moved to California, she gave in and called him. She missed him so, so much that she just needed to hear his voice.
  * He started looking forward to those calls…
  * She reached a point where she called him almost every night.
  * She never felt as happy as she did when she heard his voice.
  * Six months after moving to California, Charlie couldn’t stand it anymore. She needed to go back to Boston – back to Ethan. She didn’t care if it would injure her pride. She just wanted him back in her life.
  * She even bought a plane ticket for Friday right after she got off work.
  * Then, she met Alex.
  * He was a consult for one her pediatrics patients. He invited her for coffee, and she reluctantly accepted. He was kind, funny, handsome, and clearly enamored with her. He asked her to go to dinner with him on Friday night.
  * To Charlie, it felt like a sign from the universe to finally move on. She felt like she had to give this a shot, even if she longed to be somewhere else. She agreed and cancelled her flight, silently reassuring herself that she could buy another ticket if she changed her mind.
  * Even after the first few dates, she only saw Alex as a diversion. He was the thing she used to distract herself from missing Ethan.
  * Alex, either being dedicated or oblivious to her disinterest, kept trying.
  * It got serious, after a while. Unlike Ethan, he was happy to commit. He took her on dates where he described the family he hoped to have. He introduced her to his parents, and he invited her to join him for the holidays.
  * Slowly, her calls to Ethan became fewer.
  * He longed for them every single day, and even thousands of miles away, he could feel Charlie begin to drift away from him.
  * Ethan knew he was wrong. He knew that he’d made the worst mistake of his life, and he just needed to tell her. He only needed one chance to prove that he really was the love of Charlie’s life.
  * Then she stopped calling.
  * He felt like he’d missed his opportunity.
  * Six months after her last late-night call, Charlie picked up the phone and dialed his number. It was 5 am, and his ringtone startled him awake. He sat up ready to murder whoever was calling, but then he saw the called ID.
  * Ethan scrambled to answer the call, and it was her. It was really her.
  * Charlie was crying. He could hardly understand a word. He kept saying that it was alright and that she could talk to him. He just wanted to console her and hated that he was so far away.
  * Then, he finally understood what she had been saying.
  * “Ethan, I’m getting married tomorrow.”
  * _Oh._
  * Ethan nearly dropped the phone. The earth stopped turning. His heart stopped beating. Everything hurt, and everything was wrong.
  * She couldn’t have said that… This must be a nightmare – a horrible, horrible nightmare.
  * “I don’t how it happened,” Charlie continued, “One minute, he’s just the guy I go out with occasionally. Then, it just kept getting serious, and he proposed and I… I don’t know, I said yes. And now, the wedding is tomorrow. It’s tomorrow, Ethan. What am I supposed to do? This is wrong, isn’t it? It’s the eve of my wedding, and all I wanted to do was call you.”
  * Charlie felt like she couldn’t breathe.
  * She was locked in the bathroom of her hotel room, staring down at her engagement ring like she couldn’t entirely remember how she got it.
  * Alex was perfect. He loved her. He wanted to commit. He wanted a family.
  * Why does this feel wrong?
  * “Charlie, just breathe.”
  * Charlie tried, but she couldn’t quite do it, “I know he should be the right choice. I _know that_. He wants everything I want, but I feel wrong. I cant explain it…” Charlie’s voice cracked, “I don’t know what I’m supposed to do, Ethan.”
  * “Charlie…” Ethan began breathlessly.
  * He knew this was the time. This was his opportunity to tell her how much he loved her and how he missed her every single day. He didn’t know what he could promise, but he promised he would try.
  * Now, though, it didn’t feel like enough.
  * He couldn’t promise everything. He couldn’t promise marriage or a family. He couldn’t promise that he wouldn’t panic again in a few years. He also couldn’t take back all those terrible things they’d said and done to each other.
  * If he stopped her today, he would be keeping her from the man she deserved.
  * He loved Charlie so much.
  * So, so much.
  * Enough to sacrifice himself and his happiness.
  * “Charlie, take a deep breath. Drink some water. Go to bed, and… in the morning,” Ethan paused, summing up all his strength to say, “Marry him.”
  * Charlie suddenly understood why she called Ethan.
  * She wanted him to stop her. She just didn’t realize until she felt the stinging disappointment of him failing to do so.
  * “You think I should marry him?” Charlie asked.
  * “You’ll be happy.”
  * Charlie went silent, but Ethan didn’t dare hang up. He wanted to hold on to her as long as he could.
  * “Thank you…” she mumbled.
  * Then, the line went dead.
  * Ethan couldn’t fall back asleep. He couldn’t do anything but think about Charlie and her wedding.
  * Despite everything, he hoped she called it off anyway. He hoped to see her on his doorstep, giving him one last chance.
  * A few days later, Ethan checked Pictagram. She was his only friend, so the first thing he saw was her wedding photo.
  * She married Alex in a white dress on a lovely beach with a wide, happy smile. No one could look at this picture and imagine she’d almost called it off the night before. Alex didn’t even know…
  * Ethan felt like he’d just been stabbed.
  * His Rookie wasn’t his anymore.
  * Some nights, he couldn’t stomach the longing and the pain. He had to call her. He had to tell her the truth, even if it was too late.
  * Then, he would look at that photo, and he would remember that she was happy and loved. All Ethan could do was ruin that.
  * He printed out the photo, and he kept it in his bedside table so that he could always be reminded when he had those late-night urges to call her.
  * If only he’d known that on those nights, across the country, Charlie sat up, staring at her phone and hoping that he would call.
  * She’d made the right choice, hadn’t she?
  * She was married to a wonderful man. They bought a house with a yard. They planned on expanding their family soon. It was everything she always wanted.
  * So, why was she still waiting on Ethan to call?




End file.
